A legal analysis of the SIEC test in practice within mergers of digital platforms in Sweden and the EU
(2020) JAEM03 20201Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- Merger control in Sweden and the EU has done a prominent job in adapting to the special competitive aspects of digital platforms. Merger investigations by the Swedish Competition Authority and the European Commission include an assessment of the significant impediment to effective competition (SIEC test). The test is described in article 4(1) of the Swedish Competition Act and articles 2(2) and 2(3) of the EU Merger Regulation. The SIEC test plays a pivotal role in many occasions where concentrations have the potential to significantly impede effective market competition despite revenues of the parties being relatively low. Compared to the small but significant and non-transitory increase in price (SSNIP test) in which emphasis is... (More)
- Merger control in Sweden and the EU has done a prominent job in adapting to the special competitive aspects of digital platforms. Merger investigations by the Swedish Competition Authority and the European Commission include an assessment of the significant impediment to effective competition (SIEC test). The test is described in article 4(1) of the Swedish Competition Act and articles 2(2) and 2(3) of the EU Merger Regulation. The SIEC test plays a pivotal role in many occasions where concentrations have the potential to significantly impede effective market competition despite revenues of the parties being relatively low. Compared to the small but significant and non-transitory increase in price (SSNIP test) in which emphasis is generally placed on increase in price within the relevant market, the essence of the SIEC test is that it has an expanded range of assessment methods that can be tailored to the complex dynamics of digital markets.
This thesis explores four merger cases (Microsoft/Skype, Facebook/WhatsApp, Blocket/Hemnet, Apple/Shazam) which are excellent demonstrations of the SIEC test used in practice by the Swedish Competition Authority and the European Commission. The different circumstances in the four cases illustrate that there is indeed an adaption of the assessment methods based on specific competitive concerns a proposed merger might raise. The comparative analysis of the SIEC test in this thesis proves that the assessment methods of Sweden and the EU share major similarities. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9031798
- author
- Arslan, Maria LU
- supervisor
-
- Julian Nowag LU
- organization
- course
- JAEM03 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- SIEC test, significant impediment to effective competition, merger control, digital platforms, European Commission, Art. 2(2) EUMR, Art. 2(3) EUMR, Swedish Competition Authority, Art 4(1) Swedish Competition Act, market dynamics
- language
- English
- id
- 9031798
- date added to LUP
- 2020-11-11 17:28:04
- date last changed
- 2020-11-11 17:28:04
@misc{9031798, abstract = {{Merger control in Sweden and the EU has done a prominent job in adapting to the special competitive aspects of digital platforms. Merger investigations by the Swedish Competition Authority and the European Commission include an assessment of the significant impediment to effective competition (SIEC test). The test is described in article 4(1) of the Swedish Competition Act and articles 2(2) and 2(3) of the EU Merger Regulation. The SIEC test plays a pivotal role in many occasions where concentrations have the potential to significantly impede effective market competition despite revenues of the parties being relatively low. Compared to the small but significant and non-transitory increase in price (SSNIP test) in which emphasis is generally placed on increase in price within the relevant market, the essence of the SIEC test is that it has an expanded range of assessment methods that can be tailored to the complex dynamics of digital markets. This thesis explores four merger cases (Microsoft/Skype, Facebook/WhatsApp, Blocket/Hemnet, Apple/Shazam) which are excellent demonstrations of the SIEC test used in practice by the Swedish Competition Authority and the European Commission. The different circumstances in the four cases illustrate that there is indeed an adaption of the assessment methods based on specific competitive concerns a proposed merger might raise. The comparative analysis of the SIEC test in this thesis proves that the assessment methods of Sweden and the EU share major similarities.}}, author = {{Arslan, Maria}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{A legal analysis of the SIEC test in practice within mergers of digital platforms in Sweden and the EU}}, year = {{2020}}, }